Culture – Page 203 – William M. Briggs

Were Medications Responsible For The Connecticut Lanza Murders?

Some are speculating that the evil, and thank God dead, Adam Lanza was on SSRIs, which are medications designed to mess with your mind (in the pleasantest of ways), and…

Culture Statistics

What Can We Learn From A Crude Model Of Sexually Transmitted Diseases?

It's Statistical Modeling Day, so let's look at one dealing with sexually transmitted diseases. Why this subject? Well, according to New York's CBS 2, "Study Shows Soaring STD Rates In…

Culture Fun

The Superpower I’d Most Like To Have

This is written in earnest; my desire is sincere. And not uncommon: I mean, the longing for a superpower and the announcing of same are not rare. No less than…

Culture Philosophy

National Catholic Reporter Calls For Ordination Of Women

The NCR, the Catholic equivalent of the New York Times, ended their teasing yesterday and came right out and said it. "Catholic women who have discerned a call to the…

Culture Statistics

We Will Soon All Be Mentally Ill: DSM V & Testing All Children For Mental Disease

"The history of psychiatry is littered with fad diagnoses that in retrospect did far more harm than good," says doctor Allen Frances, the chairman of the DSM-IV Task Force and…

Culture

It’s Time For A New (Old) Kind Of University: Update

Consider these news items: "At Western Michigan University, it is considered harassment to hold a 'condescending sex-based attitude.'...Tufts University in Boston proscribes the holding of 'sexist attitudes,'... At Northeastern University,…

Culture

Germany To Ban Sex With Animals

I lifted today's title from an article in Sydney's The Telegraph. I don't know about you, but my jaw flung open as if on a spring after comprehending the tense…

Culture

Job Hunting Guanxi Style—Guest Post by William J. Briggs

The very employable W.J. Briggs, number one son of Yours Truly, lives and blogs in Brooklyn. Looking for work is a bit daunting these days. Job websites abound, but every…

gareth on Class 87: Calibration & Conformal Prediction: ExamplesApril 29, 2026
Timestamp 21:35: A "correction" from 0.8 to 1.0 is a "correction factor" of 1.25, not 0.2 (akshully wot you mean…
Cato on The Red-Blue Button Dilemma & Its Surprising AnswerApril 29, 2026
There’s no point to a world without me; of course I press Red.
Brian (bulaoren) on The Red-Blue Button Dilemma & Its Surprising AnswerApril 29, 2026
I think that pessimism morphs into cynicism when we perceive personal gain in our bleak expectations.
Nate on The Red-Blue Button Dilemma & Its Surprising AnswerApril 29, 2026
The best explanation I saw on twitter was this rephrasing: "There is a blender. Jumping into the blender will kill…
Nate on The Red-Blue Button Dilemma & Its Surprising AnswerApril 29, 2026
I rephrased the question to remove "red" and "blue" priming words and asked the wife: "Space aliens create two buttons,…